[lbo-talk] Meanwhile, out on the Congressional ranch...

Jon Johanning jjohanning at igc.org
Sun Nov 23 19:41:25 PST 2003


While we were all so engrossed in AI and conspiracy theories, the American public was getting screwed and corporate America was getting juicy benefits, once again, on energy and health care. What the heck is to be done about these matters, if that is not too plebian a question for this august body?

My own intuition is that as these reactionary measures multiply, the pounds/square inch under the lid of the pressure cooker will inexorably rise. I am reviewing the history of Russia from Nicholas I to Nicky II these days, and seeing some rather eerie resemblances, though of course I don't want to suggest any close historical parallels. But people's heating and light bills and health care costs can only get so high before they begin to notice something, no?

I was particularly struck by this sentence about the pre-Crimean-War situation in Gregory L. Freeze's chapter, "Reform and Counter Reform, 1855-1890," in the book he edited, _Russia: A History_ (Oxford UP), p. 171:

"Fear of uncontrolled social disorders, an unquestioning belief in the power and omniscience of bureaucracy [read: the Bush neo-con brain-trust], a smug assurance of Russia's [U.S.] military prowess despite its markedly un-Western [un-progressive] system and economic backwardness [Bush's screwy economic policies] -- all this encouraged the conceit that Russia [the U.S.] could be a great power *and* maintain its traditional social and political order." Then came the war ...

Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ When I was a little boy, I had but a little wit, 'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet; Nor ever ever shall, until that I die, For the longer I live the more fool am I. -- Wit and Mirth, an Antidote against Melancholy (1684)



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